State governments play an essential role in leading India’s progress toward the SDGs 2030 and translating global commitments to local action. Guided by the NITI Aayog SDG India Index, many states have set up exclusive SDG cells, vision documents, and monitoring frameworks to align their policies and budgets to development priorities. Initiatives such as Kerala’s model of decentralized local governance, Tamil Nadu’s budget tagging for SDGs, and focused interventions in the aspirational districts of Uttar Pradesh, all point toward the effective localization of SDGs. States such as Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, and Maharashtra further strengthen the outcomes through nutrition programs, district-level planning, public-private partnerships, and digital monitoring. All together, these pave the way for the key SDGs, poverty reduction, quality education, health, clean energy, and reduced inequalities, positioning states as the backbone of India’s SDG 2030 journey.